TBM-3 Avenger Book Review

By Michael Benolkin

Review

Kagero has started a new series of books called 'Topshots' and these are equivalent to Squadron/Signal Publications' series of Walk Arounds. This title is 44 pages long, contains 174 full-color and black & white photographs, and two color profiles. As with most of the Kagero series, this title also includes a set of Techmod decals.

In this title, the author combines a nice array of restored Avengers flying as warbirds with a variety of museum pieces to provide a detailed look in and around the airframe and engine.

There are a few beautifully restored Avengers out there and the author seems to have picked the best of the lot for this title. Remembering that restored aircraft have may not reflect the actual colors used during their original production, the details presented here will definitely be useful for building and detailing either the Accurate Miniatures 1/48 TBM-3 or the Trumpeter 1/32 TBM-3 kits.

Unlike the Kagero titles in other series, this series has a single page of historical summary about the aircraft in English, with the remainder of the title driving straight into the photo coverage with captions in English and Polish.

Markings are included for two TBM-3 examples, a TBM-3 of VC-83 (White 30) aboard the USS Sargent Bay, and TBM-3 of VC-9 (White 81) aboard the USS Nato Mabay.

The aviation historian and modeler alike will want to add this to their reference libraries - especially considering the VERY reasonable retail price!

This title is highly recommended!